A Hauppauge engineering firm last Wednesday recommended a series of parking restrictions to Village of Great Neck Plaza trustees for an area of South Middle Neck Road north of Brompton Road.
Daniel Winkelman, transportation systems team leader at VHB Engineering, called for parking be restricted on a 210 feet stretch along the west side of South Middle Neck Road north of Brompton Road and 65 feet south of Brompton.
The issue of parking came to light after motorists trying to make a left turn onto South Middle Neck Road from Brompton complained that with cars parked they could not adequately see if cars were coming from the north.
Winkelman recommended that from 20 feet north of Brompton Road to 210 feet north of Bromtpon there should be signs saying “No Parking 2 PM to 9 AM” and “No Parking Loading Zone 9 AM to 2 PM.”
In April, Great Neck Plaza trustees voted to update the village code to clarify parking regulations on the west side of South Middle Neck Road between Brompton Road and Pont Street, which has been the source of confusion for motorists.
They also voted to revise the language there to conform with language on street signs along that section of South Middle Neck Road. The signs there state — “No parking any time, except when authorized to be used as a loading zone” and “Loading zone, commercial vehicles only, 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.”
Winkelman recommended changing the loading zone start time from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. to avoid the rush-hour traffic.
“We’re just trying to make it safe and only permit parking if it can be safe,” Village of Great Neck Plaza Jean Celender said.
Winkelman said VHB determined what changes were needed after studying the sight distance limitations and vehicle speeds in the area.
Sight distance, Winkelman said, should be long enough to allow a vehicle traveling at the 85th percentile of the common driving speed to stop before hitting an object in its path. The 85th percentile is the speed at or below which 85 percent of vehicles travel in free-flowing traffic, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
To determine the 85th percentile, VHB studied the speeds of cars traveling on South Middle Neck Road near Brompton Road during a typical weekday morning rush hour and during an off-peak time.
He said for cars traveling south, the 85th percentile is 39 miles per hour, and for cars traveling north the 85th percentile is 41 miles per hour.
Winkelman said according to records obtained from Nassau County police over the past three years, only five accidents occurred near the intersection of Brompton and South Middle Neck.
Though none of these accidents involved cars exiting from Brompton onto South Middle Neck Road, he said many residents still said it was difficult to turn onto South Middle Neck from Brompton, and that they felt unsafe doing so.
Because there was no pattern to the accidents, Winkelman said, the accidents didn’t play a role in the recommendations.
Great Neck Plaza Clerk Patricia O’Byrne said the Plaza got calls from the Village of Thomaston saying that Thomaston residents were concerned about exiting from Brompton onto South Middle Neck.
Mitch Pitnick, a Russell Gardens resident and an attorney for the Town of North Hempstead who took issue parking changes that were being discussed in April, asked Winkelman if he was recommending parking restrictions similar to what are currently in place, to which Winkelman replied he was.
“It seems that it’s sort of a results-oriented decision, based on the analysis that’s provided,” Pitnick said.
Celender said the recommendations aren’t results-oriented.
“I really take exception to you saying that,” Celender said to Pitnick. “We want to rely on facts and data.”
Great Neck Plaza Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen said the village asked VHB to look at hard data to make recommendations.
“We didn’t say ‘we want to keep no parking here,’” Rosen said.
Winkelman said VHB wants to keep as many parking spaces as possible.
“We want to provide as much parking as we can,” he said. “If we could have allocated more parking there we would have wanted to.”
Great Neck Plaza Trustee Gerry Schneiderman said VHB has a great reputation throughout Nassau County.
“To think that they would fudge something because we wanted it some way is an insult,” Schneiderman said.
Pitnick said he wasn’t claiming VHB fudged any data.
He said he could hire his own expert to make recommendations, but that the issue is not significant enough for him to spend the money.
Trustees adjourned discussion on the parking until their next meeting on July 1.
